Cabinet rejig: Meet your new ministers

Sarvey Sathyanarayana

A trade union leader, Sarvey Sathyanarayana, who was on Sunday swown in as the minister of state for Road Transport and Highways, has always been at the forefront of agitations and protests when it came to supporting the cause of workers and quit government service to take a plunge in politics.

58-year-old Sathyanarayana, who is serving his second term as a Member of Parliament, was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time from Siddipet constituency in Medak district of Telangana region in 2004.

Like Balram Naik, he is also being rewarded for his disciplined stand on the Telangana statehood issue. He never defied the party's stand and even refused to join his colleagues in submitting resignation from elected office.

A law graduate, Sarve started his career as a public servant and worked in organisations like State Bank of India, HMT and SAIL. During the course of his employment in these organisations, Sarve established himself as a trade union leader.

Subsequently, he quit government service to join politics and was elected to Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1985. He was a member of Telugu Desam Party for a few years but later joined Congress.

Image: A national TV channel grab shows Sarvey Sathyanarayana during the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Sunday.